Feeding your crew, part 1: Logistics and kitchen hacks

I recently had the pleasure of presenting at Ag in Motion (and meeting many of our readers). This agriculture trade show is held annually in a 100-acre field-turned-small-town, a few kilometres south of the North Saskatchewan River near Langham, Saskatchewan.

Those three days were atypical weather. Hot summer days are not news around these parts, but muggy, humid air familiar to Toronto or Vancouver is not the prairie norm — and muggy and hot it was. Lemonade and ice coffee stands did a booming business, and water on wheels, along with people-moving trailers towed by tractors, made the rounds of the makeshift streets and avenues.

It reminded me of hot harvest days, where there’s cooking to be done and crews to be fed. And so, this week, I open a three-part series on the modern picnic basket of how to feed your harvest crew, based on presentations I made during Ag in Motion.

I remember that as a young girl, I’d accompany my grandmother when she packed up my granddad’s midday dinner and drove out to the field each day during harvest. She’d wrap everything in towels and pack it all into a wooden crate to withstand the bounces across the field in the grain truck: a Mason jar, sweating condensate in the heat, filled with lemonade or iced tea; a bowl heaped with braised beef and mash; sliced and buttered homemade bread in waxed paper; a big wedge of pie or cake, also wrapped; a thermos of coffee. There were also snacks for mid-afternoon: date squares or raisin cookies, a sandwich, more tea or lemonade. Nothing fancy.

We drove through wavering heat humming with grasshoppers and pulled over in the shade of the aspen trees edging the field, waiting for my grandfather to climb down from his tractor and join us.

Decades later, the harvest crew’s size and composition may have changed, but they still need to be fed. How to manage without stressing your body or your wits? A little logistical advance planning helps.

Cook strategically. When planning menus to span the many days of harvest, build in overlapping ingredients. Chickpeas, for instance, are not only affordable and nutritious vegan powerhouses, they’re also insanely versatile, great in numerous dishes of varying textures and temperature ranges. Cooking them in an Instant Pot or similar modern pressure cooker avoids heating up the kitchen. Failing that, cook early in the day, while the kitchen is cool.

Cook a big potful of chickpeas, then slot some into each of the following dishes, all wildly different: channa masala with rice and naan bread; hummus and dippable vegetables, crackers and pita bread; chickpea and snow pea salad; lentil and chickpea mulligatawny; falafel wrapped in pita with garlic yogurt; chickpea and vegetable pakoras with tamarind chutney.

Make extra to feed mechanics, kids, unexpected neighbours, anyone who might be in the field and hungry. Learn if there are vegetarians, vegans or anyone with food allergies, and make sure they eat as well as everyone else.

Manage food transport safely by observing that primary rule: keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. If you have a BIG crew, consider buying caterers’ and hotel-style insulated food and beverage transport boxes with temperature control. Over the years, they will pay dividends on the investment. For smaller crews, use insulated coolers, food bags or boxes. Pack food in containers that hold the heat, for example, lidded ceramic and cast iron.

Do as much prep as possible in advance. Cook in the cool of the morning, or the days, weeks, and nights before, whenever possible to fill the freezer with versatile high-protein fillings.

For meals in the field, consider the following:

• Make handheld dishes for crews who can’t leave their equipment or where seating is tight.
• Slice and portion everything you can.
• Organize containers for cutlery, plates, cups, serving utensils, kitchen towels.
• Figure out what kind of hand-washing will suit: do you take basins and towels with soapy water in a dispenser or sanitized handwipes?
• Take along containers for dirty dishes.
• Where will everyone sit or stand to eat?
• Where will you set the food?
• Have a weather-based plan B in case of rainouts.
• Adopt a flexible mindset, so when the unexpected happens, you can roll with it, land on your feet and feed everyone who’s hungry.
• Keep notes on recipe hits and misses for next year.

In harvest season, first we eat, then we say thank you.